Helping people stay informed and connected in Japan and Ecuador

Over the last few days, Japan and Ecuador have been affected by significant earthquakes. Hundreds have been killed, and many thousands injured or displaced. We’re doing a few things to try to help.

Find and call loved onesTo help people post and search for family or friends affected by the disaster we activated Person Finder in Spanish and Japanese. We’re also offering free calls via Hangouts, Hangouts Dialer or Google Voice to and within Ecuador to help people communicate with loved ones.

Learn more on the groundFor people in and around the affected areas, we have Google Now cards with critical crisis-related information like missing person resources, safety zones, and aftershock safety tips. We’ve made the same information available on search for earthquake-related searches. In Japan, we launched a landing page and crisis map showing accessible roads and places where people can get disaster resources like fresh water. In Ecuador, we updated Waze with more than 90 safe place locations, including local shelter information.

Support for the response Given the scope of the damage and need in Ecuador, Google.org has committed $ 250,000 to support relief efforts on the ground. We’re also providing up to $ 250,000 in Google employee gift-matching for both Japan and Ecuador.